Many remember the state legislative coup of the late Lixi Fortna
who wrote, and saw passed, a law requiring the state to create paved
bike lanes whenever state highways were paved or reconstructed.

And many have asked where aforementioned bike lanes are on the new
stretches of pavement from Waitsfield to Moretown where Route 100 has
been reconstructed and repaved. The answer is: The shoulders are paved
and that will serve as the bike lanes for now. Since the original
legislation, passed in 1986/87, subsequent legislation was passed which
softened the original proclamation.

Now the Vermont Agency of Transportation is bound by statute
which calls for paving shoulders. VSA Title 19, Section 23.10 regarding
pavement of highway shoulders states that it is "the policy of the
state to provide paved shoulders on major state highways with the
intention of providing an integrated bicycle route system."

Mark Woolavor, paving project manager for the Agency of
Transportation, said that the section of Title 19 governs highway
projects and he pointed out that Section B of that citation allows the
AOT to exclude some sections of highway from having paved shoulders if
the AOT deems it cost prohibitive.

That is not the case with the paving project on Route 100 from
Waitsfield to Waterbury. Woolaver said that the shoulders on the entire
section will be paved to the widest extent possible.

"There are some sections of this project where there are very narrow
shoulders and some gravel shoulders. Our intent is to provide a
consistent paved shoulder throughout the length of the project,"
Woolaver explained.

He said that while officially designated bike lanes are not part of
this project, the travel lanes have been "narrowed up in an effort to
get a wider shoulder."

The paved shoulders will not be painted with bike lane warning
indicators but rather be separated from the travel lane by the white
heavy-duty fog tape found on other state highways.

Amy Bell, bicycle and pedestrian specialist for the AOT, pointed out
that lane striping is currently done as a temporary measure until a
project gets close enough to completion to warrant final taping with
thermoplastic tape.

"What you may be seeing is temporary painted lines. They look very
different from the final product. If the thermoplastics are down, the
project is not done," she said.